


family reunion

by niknak21



Category: Young Justice, Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 05:15:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12358254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niknak21/pseuds/niknak21
Summary: When Sportsmaster breaks out of prison he seeks out Artemis for his revenge. Will the team be able to save her in time or will it be too late? and can Wally get her to understand that she is his spitfire?





	1. chapter 1

This is about the mission that never got told, the one that the team has an unspoken agreement never to speak of again. What really happened when sportmaster escaped prison?.

The day begins like any other, Artemis Wakes to the sound of her alarm clock. She lies in her bed looking up at her ceiling before deciding to turn and switch the alarm off. Looking at the glowing face of the clock it reads 5 am. She groaned `can't believe I'm getting up early on a Saturday because canary wants us to do some extra training', she pushed herself up leaning on one arm as she ran her other hand through her thick blonde hair.

She started to get herself dressed putting on her civilian clothes, packing a bag which carried her equipment and costume. Before she left her apartment she peeked her head into her mother's room to make sure that the former villain was still asleep. As soon as Artemis was satisfied her mother was sound asleep she headed for the door. She never saw any reason to bother waking her mother, ever since her mother came out of prison she didn't leave the house that often.

_**07:05 am** _

The 17-year-old walked through the dark morning streets of Gotham, lost in her thoughts of the previous mission that led to the capture of Sportsmaster. She watched him being led away by the justice league, knowing he would most likely be taking back to bel rev. She had mixed feelings towards that particular prison considering it had never stopped her father from breaking out of before. She had never forgotten the look of betrayal and hate in his eyes along with the look of disbelief his own daughter was the reason he had been brought to justice.

She turned the corner heading down the alley where the entrance to the zeta tubes hides. Sometimes she would meet up with Robin but she had a feeling today wasn't going to be one of those days. As she drew closer to her destination she felt someone's eyes on her. "Robin if that's you just get out here, it's too early to pull this ninja crap." She turned expecting to see the youngest member of the group but froze as a man with blonde hair walked towards her.

"Sorry baby girl, but unlike bird boy, I'm not that subtle." Artemis walked backward, as Sportsmaster walked towards her in civilian clothes.

"Dad ?" her voice came out shaky, making him grin. Taking a deep breath regaining her composure, she didn't want to show him any signs of weakness, she refused to give him that satisfaction.

"What's wrong? didn't you miss me? ", he came closer to her knocking the trash can over as he reached her. " Are you really that surprised that I'm here, you should know they can't hold me in there forever." she glared at him, folding her arms.

"No, not surprised, just thought it was someone to be worried about,", she smirked as he glared at her, "I'll give you some advice dad, leave now because we both know they'll be looking for you. And this time I'll be more than happy to escort you back." she took a defensive stance.

"You really think you can take me by yourself", he let out a crude laugh "Newsflash, girly not going to happen", he launched at her. As he did this she attempted to grab for her crossbow hidden away in her bag. But before she was able to take it out he grabbed her arm as she reached inside. She tried to pull her arm free from his vice-like grip. "Not quick enough baby girl. Maybe all this crime-fighting has made you too soft," he growled at her given her arm a tighter squeeze causing her to wince.

"No just decided to take it easy on you", she pulled back her free hand turning it into a fist before throwing it forward, hitting Sportmaster square on the nose. He stumbled back letting go of her arm. When he looked back up towards her blood running down his face. He didn't have enough time to defend himself as she charged towards him following up her previous attack on him with a knee to the stomach.

He grunted as he fell to his knees trying to recover the air he had lost from the sudden attack. " getting slow in your old age are we, dad? ", she smirked as she stood over him. Lawrence glared at his daughter clutching his stomach. "So unless you're looking to get arrested again, I would leave. I will be reporting your escape to the team and the league, after all, we all know how you like to get your ass handed to you by a bunch of kids."

She turned her back on him as she began to walk away from the villain. But was forcefully pulled back by her ponytail. Dropping her bag spilling all the contents of the bag onto the floor. Reaching for the back of her hair 'damn it, I was too careless', she cursed herself for being overly confident in her threat. She grabbed the base of her ponytail trying to scratch him but he wasn't letting go.

"I'm not done talking to you," he growled into her ear before throwing her to the ground making her fall face first into a puddle, soaking her clothes. she turned on her back looking up at the man who was now towering over her. He reached down towards her before she had a chance to swipe away his hand he grabbed a hold of her now soaking t-shirt, pulling her to her feet. She stared with a look of defiance. Gritting her teeth as he slammed her up against the wall hitting her head so hard black spots appeared in her vision. " I think we need to have a long talk, about the way you have been acting towards your father." He snapped as he tightened his grip on the blonde.

"Yeah, I'm sure it doesn't help that I've put you into prison at least every second month." She gasped out "what a terrible daughter must I b..." she was interrupted by a punch to the gut. She grabbed her stomach as he kept a hold of her. "Also the constant abuse might not help with my attitude, but it was always the best way to teach your kids a lesson to fear you". This was rewarded by another punch. Her face screwed up as she noticed that he had slipped on a pair of knuckle dusters. She tried to move away but was trapped in his grip.

"Well, maybe I need to try a lot harder when teaching that lesson." She flinched at his words. She couldn't believe that her so-called father had the guts to do this, right in front of the entrance of the cave. She squeezed her eye shut, wishing for someone to come out of the entrance. She was knocked out of her thoughts by another one of Sportmasters lessons. Again he aimed a fist at her stomach. She couldn't stop the grunt that escaped her lips, she could have sworn that she heard a crack coming from her rib cage.

This time he let her fall to her hands and knees, she was breathing heavily trying to catch her breath. She looked towards the ground as Sportmaster delivered a bone cracking kick to her ribs. She let out a cry as she rolled onto her back clutching her stomach. If she wasn't sure about the cracked ribs, she was now.

' Come on, I can't believe I'm letting this scum bag push me around like this'. She clenched her teeth together as she struggled to push herself off the ground. The blonde haired man let out a bitter laugh."If you wanted to get back up Artemis, you should have just said". He grabbed her by the forearm forcefully pulling her up. She tried to swing at him but due to the pain, she was feeling she was too slow to make contact.

Sportmaster grabbed her arm pulling it behind her as far back as it would go. The archer let out a small cry as she grabbed her shoulder. "What do I owe the pleasure of... this little visit dad?", she growled through her teeth, as he pulled back her arm even further. She was convinced that he was trying to pull it out of her socket.

"I thought because you were my daughter. I had an obligation to give you a warning, to keep out of my way rather than just kill you." His voice became darker as he spoke "let this be your warning because next time I won't go easy on you. My daughter or not", and with his final words she blacked out as he struck the side of her head.

_**ROBIN 07:28 am** _

Dick Grayson the now 16-year-old strolled down the street heading towards the zeta tubes. His plan was to arrive an hour early like he always does. But he was patrolling Gotham last night and felt like he needed an extra half an hour in his bed. He looked at his watch as he entered the alley it was 07;30, he had plenty of time to get there. Training session didn't start until 8 am. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt his foot kick a large object on the ground. He looked down to see a sports bag along with its contents sprawled across the ground. His eyebrows raised in concern when he recognized the items.

He crouched down to the bag as he picked up what looked like Artemis's green top. He looked around to evaluate the situation. As his eyes reached the entrance of the zeta tube, this is where he saw the blonde archer sprawled out at the entrance of the phone booth in a puddle lying face down. "Artemis!", he yelled as he ran towards her, turning the young girl on her back.

The first thing he saw was the ugly bruise on the side of her face that was accompanied by a bleeding cut, staining her white top. He quickly noticed that her chest was rising up and down showing she was still breathing. He let out a heavy breath of relief before deciding to take her back to the mountain. Even though he couldn't see any other injuries he couldn't be sure there weren't any internal ones. The blonde looked pretty beaten up. Carefully he picked her up as he walked into the phone booth.

_**07;36 Mount Justice** _

The only members already in the cave were the ones that lived there permanently. Zatanna along with Megan stayed by the zeta tubes waiting for the arrival of the rest of their team. While Superboy and Kaldur hung around the kitchen. The boys approached the girls as they laughed.

"What are you two laughing at this time in the morning? most people would be dead" Conner spoke up as he yawned standing next to miss martian.

"Oh, we were just discussing how Artemis and wally are avoiding the conversation of what happened on new year's eve.", Zatanna put her hands on her hips.

"Maybe they are still in denial. After all the two of them are too stubborn to make the first move unless the other one does it", Megan laughed as Kaldur look less enthusiastic than normal. He wasn't the type of person who enjoyed discussing other peoples social lives behind their backs.

"Recognize Artemis B07, recognize Robin B01". The team stopped talking as they turned towards the zeta tubes. Expecting to see two figures form side by side, but were shocked when they saw Robin carrying the archer in his arms. Before Robin could even say anything the team was around him.

"What happened?", Kaldur was the first to speak. While Zatanna and Megan took the blonde out of the brown haired boy's arms. They didn't stick around to hear the story knowing they would hear about it when they got back from the med bay.

"I'll go get black canary", Conner rushed towards the training room to find his combat teacher, who was setting up for their training session.

"I don't know, I found her like that in the alley. " Robin played around with his wristwatch "I'm going to see if I can see anybody on the cameras." The boy wonder raised an eyebrow.

"Did you find anything ?", Aqualad waited as his friend continued to press buttons.

"That's weird, the camera went down at 06:45, and there's no footage of anybody near the area before it went down."

"So the only thing we can go on is what Artemis can tell us."

"pretty much", Kaldur folded his arm in defeat, with a thoughtful look on his face.

_**08;10** _

Wally West ran towards the entrance of his zeta tube 'man, I can't believe I'm late, the fastest kid alive and I still can't make anything on time,' He rolled his eyes already preparing for Artemis joking at his expense. He enters the zeta tube to the mountain "kid flash b04", the female voice spoke as he entered the room to see all his teammates minus one. 'good, for a change she's the one who is late", he smiled to himself.

"Hey, never fear the Wallman is here." he stood proud chest puffed out as he pointed to himself. Everyone just stared at him awkwardly "whats going on? I know I'm late but only by 10 minutes, plus Artemis isn't even here yet", He sensed the tension in the air. While Megan and Zatanna looked at each other avoiding the redhead stare. He was feeling himself go red in the face with frustration. "guys?", he finally shouted.

"Wally"', Megan spoke up, her voice was soft "Artemis was attacked this morning"

"What?", his eyes went wide, that wasn't what he was expecting "what happened? is she okay? who did it? Did you catch them? ", his voice raised with every question he fired out.

"Hey calm down KF, Artemis is fine black canary is checking up on her right now." Robin spoke with a smile " we don't know what exactly happened but when Artemis wakes up we'll be able to ask her", kid nodded. He stood for a second before he decided to go to the med bay.

"Where is he going?", superboy pointed as Kid Flash left the room.

"Take a guess, " Zatanna laughed while Megan giggled "guess Artemis will have a little surprise when she wakes up."


	2. chapter 2

_**ARTEMIS** _

Artemis shot up from where she was lying. She winced holding her stomach remembering the beaten she had received from her father. She panicked expecting to see Sportmaster somewhere in the room. But soon relaxed when all she saw was the familiar walls of the caves med bay and the back of a familiar blonde, who was known as Black Canary. The older woman was staring at an x-ray.

"I would take it easy if I were you, you have three cracked ribs and a concussion". She walked over to the archer who was now lying back on the bed. One hand squeezing the bridge of her nose " I know you've just woken up but we need to know what happened ?. " Her voice was soft as she gave Artemis a concerned look, while Artemis just returned it with a scowl.

"What? seeing me get my ass kicked wasn't enough for you guys". She said bitterly, she already knew about the cameras in the alley.

"Artemis that's not it. The cameras were down when you were attacked, given us reason to believe this was planned." She put her hand on top of the injured girl's hand "do you know who did this?", black canary still held a soft expression while Artemis pulled her hand away from the woman.

Artemis bit the inside of her cheek, remembering what her father had said to her 'let this be a warning to you', his voice echoed through her head. 'If I tell canary they won't let me go on any mission that involves him, and then he'll think he has won.`Artemis hated the idea of her father thinking that he had scared her off.

"No I don't, I was attacked from behind and the rest of it... is kind of blurry." Artemis looked away from the older woman. Canary gave a suspicious look to the young girl lying in the bed.

"You know your father has escaped ?", Canary told Artemis waiting for a reaction, but she continued to look away. "You don't seem surprised with that news."

"Why should I be?", Artemis snapped turning her attention back towards the older woman. "Because every time we catch him the JL insisted on taking him back to Belle Reve, despite us telling you guys you need to put him elsewhere. But because we're still "just kids" in your eyes you don't take us seriously." canary sighed as the archer snapped at her.

"I understand how you're feeling Artemis but getting angry won't help. Do you think Sportmaster had something to do with this?",The young girl rolled her eyes. "after all you were the main reason we caught him the last time.", Artemis stiffened up.

"Like I told you I was attacked from behind, I don't know who did this." Canary opened her mouth to say something but was cut off. "You know what I'm tired, I'm heading home." She started to get up but was stopped when black canary put a hand on the archer's shoulders.

"No, you're staying here tonight, just to be on the safe side" Artemis glared at Dinha.

"What about my mom ?, I haven't got anything in for dinner, I was meant to pick up something when I got home." she protested.

"We'll deal with that, in fact, I will go myself to keep her company", canary reassured her.

"But.." she was interrupted by the sound of a sliding door and a red-headed boy entering.

"Are you serious, faking being attacked so you don't need to do combat training." He leaned on the door frame, canary smiled before deciding that was her cue to leave the two alone.

"Wally I really don't have the patience to deal with you right now. I've got a headache and I don't want you adding to it ", she sighed pinching the bridge of her nose. She sat up sitting on the side of the med bed.

Wally walked in front of her, his face was serious as he took in her appearance. She still wore the clothes she had been attacked in. Her white shirt muddy and bloodstained, her jeans were ripped at the knees. Then his eyes fell on the ugly bruise that had formed on the side of her head. He reached his hand out placing it on top of her bruise allowing his thumb to rub against it softly.

"Artemis, what happened ?", he said softly, she looked down keeping her eyes on the floor.

"Does it even matter, Wally? This isn't the worst thing that has happened to me." He stared at her removing his hand from her head, his jaw clenched as he watched her.

"Why do you always have to act tough all the time? I came in here to make sure that you were okay and you hit back with this tough guy act. It's getting old Artemis." She slightly shook her head before taking in a shaky breath, this caught the speedsters attention.

"I don't know what happened and I just don't want hundreds of question fired at me." She went stiff when she finally took her eyes off the ground seeing that Wally had moved closer to her, barely given her any room. She felt awkward as she thought back to their kiss on new year's night, she looked away to hide the tint of red making its way to her cheeks. "Look I'm fine but thanks anyway", she jumped off her bed but froze clutching her sides as pain shot right up her ribs. "Damn..it"

"Are you okay?" Wally panicked putting his hands on Artemis arms supporting her as she slowly stood up straight.

"Yeah I'm fine, just need to remember to take it easy for the next week." She paused when she realized how close the two were, but was unwilling to move away. He was still holding her but he hadn't realized that his hands had somehow managed to find their way down to her waist pulling her closer. While her hands lay on top of his chest. They separated when they heard a cough coming from the entrance of the med bay.

"Sorry am I interrupting something here?, " Zatanna leaned on the door frame with her arms folded and a grin plastered on her face.

"Ah..no I was just...you see", Wally stuttered and mumbled trying to figure out what to say. "You know what? I forgot I need to go help Robin with something." he sped out of the room avoiding eye contact with the brunette, While Artemis just rolled her eyes.

"So? ", the witch raised her eyebrows her smile wasn't leaving anytime soon.

"Nothing happened Zatanna ", Artemis cut her friend off walking out the med bay.

"Hey, where are you going? didn't canary say you had to stay here tonight", she rushed after the blonde.

"Don't worry I'm not leaving I just want to get out of these clothes." realizing that she was still in her clothes she had been attacked in. Zatanna just nodded. Her white top was bloodstained from the cut on her head, her hair was matted with blood and mud, while her brown jacket and jeans were covered in rips and mud from falling in the puddle. Reaching her room she went straight to her cupboard. "And I don't want to hear anything about what you just saw because one word and I'm heading home", she threatened.

Zatanna sat on the archer's bed " the way I see it you can either tell me what is happening with you and Wally or you can tell me what happened to you today, your choice", Artemis glared at her best friend. "Hey I think I'm being fair here, we both know if I really wanted to I could find out both answers with that little trick I used with Ivo", the magician raised her hands up in defense.

"I don't know what's happening with me and Wally." She sat on her bed "since new years eve, we haven't really talked about it maybe it was a spur of the moment sort of thing. So I'd rather leave it at that than make a fool out of myself." Zatanna laughed. While the blonde glared at the girl who was laughing at her.

"Are you serious ?", Artemis looked at the young magician with sharp eyes. "From what I and the rest of the team can see you and him are just as stubborn as each other. Waiting for the other to say something. Look it's up to you what you and him do. But did you not notice he ran straight to your bed as soon as he heard what happened." Zatanna stood up with a smirk before leaving the blonde alone in the room "I'll catch up with you later."

Artemis sat in her room` she doesn't know what she is talking about. Me and Wally would never work. His family is full of heroes while mine.' She stopped her thoughts there `no don't be stupid. You're not good enough for someone like him. You're too broken,' A voice in her head spoke. she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, ignoring it and headed towards the showers.

_**The next day** _

Artemis left the hideout as soon as she woke up, accompanied by Wally West who decided to stay the night. She ignored the smart ass comments and giggles of her team as she left that morning with Wally who insisted on walking her home. The walk back to her home was quiet but it was not awkward and she enjoyed the silence "so when did canary say you can join the team on a mission again?", Wally walked with his hands in his pockets.

"A week, two weeks tops. So hopefully in time for our next mission", she laughed when she saw Wally roll his eyes at her "can't let you have all the fun, plus if I'm not there to save you who is?"

"I'm the fastest teenager alive", he said proudly. "I don't need to be saved", he smirked

"Unless it's something you trip on or even a bit of water or ice on the floor." She laughed but when Wally playfully pushed her. She clenched her teeth as she let out a low noise, grabbing her sides.

"Artemis I'm sorry, i..I forgot", he panicked as she stood straight smiling. Wally raised an eyebrow "what are you smiling about?", he said his voice lighter now.

"Nothing," he gave her a strange look "why did you insist on walking me home? it's not even your city, it's out of the way", he smiled at her " what?", now it was her turn to look confused.

Wally couldn't help but notice how cute the blonde looked when she was confused. 'I can't decide if she is acting dumb or if she really hasn't noticed', Wally thought to himself. "No reason just wanted to get fresh air." She gave him a suspicious look "plus I wanted to make sure you got home okay", she stopped, crossing her arms.

"Wally I can take care of myself, what happened yesterday was just a lucky shot." She felt guilty knowing she couldn't tell him the truth. 'I bet he wouldn't act this concerned if he found out. What would happen if they found out I'm lying to them again'. She bit her lip.

"Yeah well doesn't that mean they can't get another lucky shot in. Now come on you are almost home" she rolled her eyes at him and continued to walk. They finally got to her apartment but Artemis asked Wally if she could walk by herself to her door, knowing she would have a lot of explaining to do to her mother.

"I'm home", she shouted, as she saw her mother wheel her chair through to the hall. She tried to head straight to her room but was unable to when she heard her mother call her name.

"Artemis get back here," the archer rolled her eyes at the ex-villain "what happened? Dinah came round and told me you were injured heading to the hideout." despite being in a wheelchair the ex-huntress was no pushover, Artemis sighed.

"It was nothing mom I just got jumped. That's all, there is nothing more to it", she continued to her room but stopped again.

"She also told me about your father", Artemis looked down clenching her fist "Artemis I want you to be careful if anything happens that has anything to do with him you tell Dinah immediately. Do you understand?", she didn't answer her mother "Artemis? " she said more firmly.

"Yeah mom I understand, I'm just heading to my room", walking with her head down, shutting the door behind her.

"You were never a good liar," Artemis jumped as she saw her sister lying on her bed, she tensed expecting the older girl to attack.

"Jade ", she said cautiously cursing herself for not having any weapons on her, "what are you doing here?". Jade ignored her sister.

"How's the new boyfriend? You should have brought him in to meet the family", the brunette turned her head to look at the blonde's expression.

"What do you want?", Artemis said coldly repeating herself trying to keep her voice down so her mother would not hear her.

"Oh relax, I'm just here to talk. Now tell me how many of your teammates saw through that little act of yours? ", Artemis folded her arms.

"What do you want jade? ", saying it more firmly now, her sister just smiled sitting up on the bed.

"I'm here to give you a warning", the older girl looked at her sister but this time with pity in her eyes as she took in her sister's appearance.

"Yeah, yeah I've already had a lecture from dad accompanied by one of his classic lessons", Artemis sat down on the opposite bed. 'What is his problem? he has never attacked me outside a mission before. And has never had the guts to show up at the entrance to the mountain." Jade looked around the room given it a small smirk.

"Have you ever thought about redecorating since I left."

"Jade!" her voice was threatening "why did dad do this? ", her sister just smiled knowing that her little sister didn't have the patience to play her games today.

"Dear old dad has been told by the light if you continue to get in their way they will kick him out of the club" she laughed, "they think he's feeding you information, so he thinks if he threatens you enough he'll scare you away.", The archer looked at her sister in disbelief.

"That's ridiculous, has the shadows threatened you yet or is that why you're here", she straightened up waiting for her sister to pounce.

"No the shadows are smarter than that, but the light they're different. They see that dad keeps on getting caught and you seem to be the one who is doing it. You see where I'm going with this, they put two and two together and got 5."

"So he's taking his anger out on me because he can't-do his job right." she watches jade get up and head to the window.

"I'll be working with dear old dad on my next assignment, I'm just warning you he doesn't seem like he wants to play around anymore. I'm not just saying this because I don't like him, I'm saying this as a concerned sister. Watch your back and stay out of his way for a while" and with that, she left, leaving Artemis alone in her room.

_**Three weeks later.** _

It only took Artemis 9 days before she started some light training again and a week after that canary cleared her for going on missions. But it was almost 3 weeks since Artemis had been attacked and the team hadn't been given a mission in that time. The team was in the debriefing room with Red tornado.

"The mission assignment is simple, " red tornado announced to his team. "We have been given an anonymous tip that Sportmaster will be collecting a shipment of guns from Gotham docks tonight." Artemis tensed up which didn't go unnoticed by Wally. "Your mission is to stop that shipment, you will leave immediately. " With that, the team headed towards the bioship. Artemis stayed behind the group, Wally noticed this and fell back to keep the archer company.

"Hey, are you okay? ", he asked out of concern, she gave him a soft smile.

"Yeah of course, after all, it's only my dad. The man who has been causing this team trouble since the day it has started." He smiled back "he must be losing his touch if somebody has decided to come to us. Normally people would be too scared to say anything against him, just seems strange", wally laughed.

"He must be losing his edge with you beating him every other week." She laughed, she couldn't help but feel better about this mission. She couldn't put her finger on it but for some reason, she just felt a lot more relaxed whenever she was talking to Wally.

_**A FEW HOURS LATER** _

The team had landed on the docks an hour after they had left the cave. They then spotted the ship that they presumed was Sportmaster's, as it was the only one in the docks. The team was spread out across the docks hiding behind creates or for miss martian she was in her camouflage. The green alien had set up a telepathic link as soon as the ship had landed.

Robin and Aqualad were taking cover together "it's strange," Kaldur began.

"What's that?, The fact that this is meant to be a large shipment of guns yet no one is guarding it or we've not seen Sportmaster yet?." Robin looked over at his leader who was staring intensely at the boat.

"Both", Kaldur looked around one more time before making a decision 'change of plans. We're going in to investigate.' he thought to let the full team know. 'Stay on guard this could be a trap.' he gave out the command.

'Wait, you want us to walk right into a trap?.' Artemis yelled in her head. Her mind bringing back the memories of three weeks ago, of her father and Cheshire's warning. Having the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. The idea that she was about to walk into a trap set up just for her.

'We have no real reason to believe that this tip is real. Don't you think it's a bit strange, that this is meant to be a big shipment of guns, yet no sign of crew or anybody else guarding it?' , Robin explained. 'The tip could be a prank', Artemis bit her lip as she tried to reassure herself that everything was going to be okay. After all, there was no reason to believe the tip had anything to do with her father.

Before she could continue any other thought she felt herself being picked up. "Thought you might need a lift", the speedster stared at her with a huge grin, laughing at the shock on her face. Realizing Wally had picked her up bridal style, her face began to change to a slight red color

"Wally put me down", she demanded as he sped off towards the ship. "I swear to god, Wally."

"Can't now, I've already started moving." his smile grew, even more, when he felt Artemis arms slide around his neck. He tightened his hold on the archer. They arrived on the ship's deck in seconds just before the rest of the team. The red-headed boy didn't put the blonde down straight away "see, wasn't so bad was it?", she smirked.

"I could have walked here faster", he was taken back. "But I'll admit it, wouldn't have been as fun." His grin came back twice as big. Artemis didn't help it when she ran her fingers through the back of his hair, before making the decision to leave his arms. smiling as he gave her a confused looked.

"I hope we haven't interrupted anything," Superboy smiled as Megan bit back a laugh.

"Yeah if you want we can come back to the mission later." Robin teased, Zatanna caught Artemis eye and Artemis knew what she was going to say as soon as the two got back to the cave.

"Focus we have a mission, now spread out and search the boat top to bottom," Kaldur ordered, Wally walked next to him. "If this was an ambush we would have been attacked by now", kid flash nodded in agreement.

"So what are you thinking, we're at the wrong place?", Kaldur stopped as he looked around.

"I'm not sure, not until we've searched every inch of this ship. Maybe there will be a few clues lying about", he walked away from kid flash. Artemis walked by herself heading into the ship to see if she could find anything.

'What is dad planning? why would he go to all this trouble to bring us here?. I was expecting an ambush but nothing; no Sportmaster, no jade, and no henchmen. This really doesn't make sense.' She was snapped out of her thought when she felt two pairs of arms wrap themselves around her own. Coming back to reality, she tensed her muscles expecting the worse but as she turned to face the suspect she was greeted with Zatanna who couldn't contain her laughter and miss martian who smiled. But then her face sank into realizing that they had scared the archer.

"Artemis, I'm sorry I forgot that you get a little uneasy on missions, that involves your family." The green alien spoke with concern in her voice, Zatanna was about to speak but the blonde interrupted.

"Don't worry about it, I should be used to it by now." She looked down at her boots clenching her bow in her hand, ashamed with her family as though it was somehow her fault. Zatanna bit her lip, she hated to see her friend like this.

"Soo ", she got the two girls attention. "You and Wally seemed to be getting along really well." She gave her trademark smirk with her hands on her hips, while Megan's smile returned as Artemis was speechless with the sudden statement.

"And?", Artemis finally spat out "you all complain when we argue, he was just helping me to the ship".

"So are you going to ask him out then", Megan blurted out.

"No, why would I do that?." They both raised an eyebrow at her. "Plus it wouldn't work. His family, are all good people some of which are heroes while mine...are all villains. I don't doubt that all of my family have at least fought with one of the flashes. We just don't match he thinks that everybody can be saved, while I'm realistic I know how the world really works. He shouldn't have someone like that around him constantly bringing him down. He deserves better than that."

"Will you stop putting yourself down." Miss Martian shouted " you always do that to yourself, who cares about your family and what they have done. What about you? don't you deserve to be happy?. You have proved to the team time and time again that you are a hero", the alien shouted.

"Yeah, I don't think your family should stop you from dating a guy you obviously like." Zatanna agreed with her friend, Artemis sighed.

"Just drop it, you guys don't understand. Now come on we've got a mission to focus on", she walked passed the two.

_**AN HOUR LATER** _

"So after searching, we've come up with nothing", KF yawned in defeat " must have been a bad tip."

"I don't know about that", Dick rubbed his chin with the back of his hand "there is just something, that is not right here,"

"Agreed, but kid's right. Until we have any other reason to believe anything different, we'll call this false information and head back to the cave." The leader spoke up and with that, the team got into the bioship and left.

In the distance Sportmaster peered through binoculars, gripping them tightly as he watched his daughter leave with her team. "Looks like that little brat didn't listen. Can't say I never warned her." He turned to a woman in a green dress and a mask 'you know the plan, don't screw it up."

"You're lucky, you are the client this time dad or I would be refusing to do this." She walked next to him "and payment half now and the other half when it's done."

"Yeah, yeah I know just start getting prepared, little girl." He growled at her.


	3. chapter 3

_**MOUNTAIN** _

It had been three days since the team had gone to the docks in a search for Sportmaster, the team hadn't had a mission since. Kaldur debriefed red tornado about the previous mission when they arrived back at the cave. Both heroes agreed that they would put it down as a false lead but would investigate it to find out where it had come from.

The team was in the rec room of the mountain watching tv, "this is boring", kid flash blurted out. "Come on, there must be something to do. We've got zeta tubes all over the country and yet we sit here watching tv", he got up and started pacing the floor in front of the tv.

"Well, what would you suggest Baywatch?", Artemis gave him a bored look.

"I don't know, but anything must be better than this." He let out a frustrated sigh.

"I think Wally's right", Megan's voice was full of enthusiasm.

"Well, looks like there is a carnival in Star city today. Could be fun to go to that.", Dick type on his wristwatch.

"Dude, it's settled then we'll go there." Kid Flash smiled as he pulled Artemis off her chair and proceeded to the zeta tube, with the young woman protesting.

"Does Batman know you use that thing for this kind of stuff?." Conner asked the younger member of the group.

"What Batman doesn't know won't kill him ." The younger member gave him his trademark smile.

_**The fare** _

The team spent half of the day together but soon separated to do their own things. Kaldur went of with Raquel who agreed to meet up with the team, Zatanna was with Dick, Megan and Conner were together and of course, that just left the final two members of the team together.

"So what do you want to do now?", Wally rested his hands on the back of his head as he walked next to the blonde.

"It's up to you", the archer looked at everything around her in awe.

"What is wrong with you?, you've got the same expression as miss M when she finds out a new earth custom?." Artemis avoided his eyes, as his smile grew. "You're acting like you've never been to a carnival before.", she stared straight ahead.

"I haven't", she said embarrassed while wally just laughed.

"You are joking me, I get the honor to take the great Artemis to her first carnival." His smile only grew as he continued to laugh ignoring the fact the blonde was now glaring straight ahead.

"Sorry, my childhood wasn't as bright as yours. While you were off going to things like this, I was being trained by my father. I guess my busy schedule didn't have time for this." He cringed as she spoke, it was so easy to forget about Artemis past.

"Look Artemis I'm sorr…", he stopped when she rushed on ahead disappearing into the crowd. "Artemis wait", he yelled but there were too many people in his way, and he couldn't use his powers to run after her as too many people would see him.

It took the young speedster an hour to find the girl sitting on a bench outside of the grounds. He slowly sat next to her as not to startle the young woman. "Look Artemis, I didn't mean to laugh at you I just forgot. You know me when my mouth starts going I can't help myself." She stared off into the distance.

"You know it's funny." She started to speak, as he gave her all his attention. "The fact that I'm even a hero. When I was about their age I was training to kill a man." she nodded to the two kids, who were no older than 10. The boy leaned back on the bench, given her a soft look. " My childhood is something I don't want to think about, Wally." the redhead bit his lip watching a pained expression on her face.

"Artemis, I'm really sorry I brought it up", she ignored him and continued to talk.

"But my mind sometimes can't help going to the darkest places that I tried to bury. The days when I messed up my training, dad would get so mad." she shook her head as she thought back to those days. "I remember one-time dad fractured my cheek just because I didn't perform a move perfectly." she gave a bitter laugh "Back then I hated the idea of heroes, none of them ever saved me. They knew that monster had kids so why didn't they step in? I could have grown up normal, I wouldn't…". She bit her lip as she felt the water start to sting her eyes.

"Come on," Wally said softly placing his hand on her's dragging her to her feet, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "You've got a lot of catching up to do, let me first show you the art of festival food." He dragged her away to the food stalls. The rest of the night went uneventfully. Artemis enjoyed herself, forgetting about her past. They all met up and were walking back to the zeta tube.

"So did you enjoy your first time at the festival?", he walked behind the group with her, his arm still around her shoulder.

"You know, it was better than what I expected." She smiled up at the boy, who was grinning back at her. None of them said anything to each other when Artemis wrapped her arm around his waist. She pulled him back as she stopped, waiting for Robin to enter the zeta tube, so they were alone. He walked closer to her, he gave her a suspicious look. "Thanks", she reached up given him a kiss on the cheek, before leaving him standing in shock with his hand pressed to the spot her lips had touched. Given her a goofy smile as he watched her leave through the zeta tube.

_**mountain** _

Three weeks, and still no mission the only thing the young heroes were doing was taking turn patrolling the cities, tonight was Megan's turn to patrol Gotham as there had been a lot more crimes happening there this month than normal. While the rest of the team were spread out around the mountain, Artemis was in the training room beating the crap out of a punching bag.

Ever since their last mission, Artemis had been keeping to herself lately, minus the trip to the carnival. Hanging around the training room more often than normal until she was exhausted, before heading home. 'I need to get better, I need to be faster, I can't let him beat me again.' She clenched her teeth as her fist impacted with the punching bag. She had been paranoid since the visit to the docks. Not knowing why, but for some reason, she still felt as though it had been a trap for her even though nothing had happened to her or the team.

"I don't know what the punching bag did to you but give it a break already." She turned around to see Wally standing behind her. She ran a hand through her hair moving the loose strands from her face.

"What do you want Wally?", she walked to the bench picking up a bottle of water taking a long drink as he watched her.

"Nothing just wanted to see if you wanted a proper challenge, rather than beating up an opponent that can't move." He moved closer until he stood inches away from her. "Unless you're scared ", he whispered into her ear, she felt a chill run up her spine as his breath touched her skin. He smirked when Artemis turned her attention to him raising an eyebrow.

"And you think you can be that challenge Baywatch?' she put a hand on her hip, he looked down at her.

"Babe, I know that I'm more than a challenge for you." She looked up at him, only showing a small smirk. Not giving him any satisfaction of letting him see that his words really made her want to smile, at how big headed he could be. Her heart flutter at the idea that he was standing this close to her. Not because of an argument but because he chose too.

"Fine then let's go". Without warning, she threw a punch at him, but he managed to dodge her easily.

"Hey, that's cheating." He shouted at her as she continued to throw punches at him, she gave him a teasing smile.

"Yeah because you didn't just use your speed to dodge me." She said sarcastically, as he grabbed her arm tightening his grip on it.

"Not my fault, it's just natural to me", he gave her large smile. Rolling her eyes before deciding to punch him in the face. He stumbled back letting go of her arm. " HEY, that's cheating", he rubbed his jaw.

"Not my fault, fighting dirty is just natural to me." She mocked him, this time it was his turn to attack. As he ran towards her, she readied herself for the incoming blow. But as he drew closer he tripped over his feet landing on top of the blonde archer. "Och", she said quietly. When she opened her eyes staring down at her was the redhead. His body pressed against her in an awkward position, his legs had somehow tangled with her own. He didn't immediately get off her, both of them breathing heavily. Artemis stomach was full of butterflies as the redhead moved a strand of loose hair from her face before placing his hand on her cheek.

He leaned down and she raised her face to meet his, their lips meeting only moments after in a passionate kiss. Her arms sneaked around his neck pulling him closer to her. His hand wandered down towards the bottom of her shirt sneaking underneath. His hands came into contact with her bare skin moving up and down exploring every inch of her before he moved towards her chest massaging her breasts. He pulled away from her when she let out a moan of pleasure. With a teasing smirk, he placed his lips to her neck and gently dragged his teeth down. She couldn't control herself as she continued, her own hands went under his shirt. Dragging her nails down his back, this time it was his time to let out a moan.

Before anything else could happen they heard the speaker announcing the team to go to the debriefing room. They both reluctantly separated breathing heavily " duty calls", he laughed as she rolled her eyes at him, he got up offering her a hand which she accepted.

_**Briefing room** _

The two were the last to arrive in the room, without any other delay batman began speaking. "We have just received intel from miss martian who has spotted Sportsmaster's men at an abandoned warehouse. According to her information, these men were carrying crates of unknown equipment into the warehouse. Your job is to find what is in those boxes", They all nodded in understanding.

It didn't take long to get to the warehouse, miss martian had given them coordinates on where to meet her when they arrived. They stared over crates as they watched the men taking more boxes into the old warehouse. "if you wanted to join the party all you had to do was ask", a female's voice spoke from behind them.

"Cheshire", they all spoke, as the villain spun a sai between her fingers.

"you don't sound happy to see me, especially you sis. I thought I would at least get a warmer welcome from you." Artemis stepped forward her bow on her target, as her sister mocked her.

"I'll give you a warm welcome", but she lowered her bow when their leader stood in front of her.

"We'll give you one chance Cheshire, tell us what you are planning", she only laughs at the man.

"Sorry but I don't think so, I wouldn't be getting paid if I did that. Boys, you know what to do." Before the team could do anything they were surrounded by the armed men. "Come on sis, we've got a lot of catching up to do", the villain launched herself at the blonde taking her to the ground, while the rest of the team fought off the armed guards.

The blonde struggled under the brunette as she held the Sai to her neck. " I warned you Artemis", She hissed, her voice was full of annoyance pressing the sai even harder for it to draw blood.

"Did you really think I was going to listen to you?." The archer managed to draw the knife away from her neck. "What does it matter to you anyway, what happened to your old saying ` every girl for herself`.

"Artemis this isn't just about you anymore." She slipped a piece of paper into the young girl's hand. "My bike is at the side of the warehouse." She loosened her grip on Artemis giving the blonde the opportunity to punch the woman off her. Jade didn't attack again, she waited as the blonde looked at the peace of paper in her hand. Artemis froze her body went tense as she looked back up at her sister then down at the photograph of her mother that looked like it had been taking outside the window of the apartment. "You got her into this mess, you get her out of it", her sister demanded her voice was deadly.

Without another word she dropped the photo and ran towards Jade's bike. Wally noticed this and started running towards her. He was that focused on the blonde he didn't realize that Jade had thrown marbles in his direction causing him to trip up, banging his head in the process. The woman stamped her foot on his back as he tried to get to his feet pushing him back on the ground. "Hey, not so quick, you and I are going to have a talk about my dear sister", wally glared up at the older woman.

"Why did Artemis run? what are you planning? What did you say to her?", Jade laughed as the boy started to panic over her sister.

"Don't worry you'll find out soon", as she spoke, her heel dug further into his back.

_**Artemis** _

She must have broken the speed limit but she didn't care she had to get her mother as fast as possible. Climbing through the window of her apartment hoping to at least have the element of surprise, she opened the door of her bedroom pressing herself against the wall. "Laurance what do you think you're doing?", she heard her mother start to shout.

"This is your fault, Paula, you encouraged her to be like this.", Artemis cringed, remembering all the time she heard him use that voice on her and Jade. "If you had only let me finish her training none of this would have happened. She's not like those kiddy heroes," he growled.

"You would rather have her be like us, rather than be a somebody." She raised her voice challenging him. "Look where that has gotten us, I can't walk and you can't go anywhere without attracting unnecessary attention. You might not be, but I'm proud that our daughter never followed in our footsteps she is better off this way." Artemis heard a loud smacking sound and her mother's wheelchair hitting the ground.

"You bitch", he yelled at the top of his voice "I was going to leave you alive and just deal with my daughter bu.." he was interrupted by a threatening voice.

"I swear to god Laurence if you harm Artemis", he laughed as he delivered a kick to the stomach of the wheelchair-bound woman.

"You'll what?", taunting her, Artemis couldn't take it anymore.

"STEP AWAY FROM HER", Artemis raised her bow stepping into her father's line of site. He just laughed as he pointed a gun towards her mother.

"Do you think, your arrow is faster than my bullet?. We could test it out if you want." She clenched her teeth as the man laughed at her "lower it, or I'll shoot", Artemis hesitated before doing as she was told despite her mother's protest. Her father walked away from the woman on the floor. Within that moment Sportmaster had slammed her against the wall choking her.

"Lawrence you are going to kill her, stop." she pleaded with her ex-husband.

"Relax I'm not going to do that just yet." He let his grip loosen dropping the girl on her knees, who was now rubbing her throat. "She caused me my position in the light, Paula." He growled kicking the girl in the chest, she gasped for air as she rolled onto her back. "You know the sacrifices I made for that position." He picked up the girl by the back of the shirt, throwing her into the dining room table, causing the legs of the table to give out. In the corner of her eye, she could see her mother's feeble attempt to reach out to her. "I'm not done with you yet, you're going to regret the day you joined that little team of your's." Grabbing her hair, forcing his gun to her head forcing her to stand up then finally he began dragging his daughter to the door. "Don't expect her back tonight Paula, we're going to have some father and daughter time." the ex-huntress screamed after her daughter as she disappeared out the door.

_**Wearhouse** _

Cheshire dodged another punch from wally as he continued to attack her. "You're getting too clumsy", she laughed as she punched the boy in the stomach countering his attack, following that up with a swift kick to the face knocking him to the ground. Wally stopped when he heard a phone ring, then gave a confused look as Jade answered her phone. "That's received" was all she said before hanging up. "Everyone retreat", she shouted, she was looking at a piece of paper that caught wally's attention before leaving.

Wally got up, picking up the paper in the process. His jaw dropped at the woman in the photo. it was Artemis's mother, realization finally hit Wally. "That is where she ran off too", he could feel the blood drain from his face.

"That was weird, why did they retreat?", Conner questioned the team hoping they would have the answer.

"Yes that was indeed weird", their leader spoke up "is everyone okay?", he looked around inspecting his team "where is Artemis?", his voice was full of alarm. The rest of the team minus wally spun their heads around in search of the archer.

"Artemis", Wally breathed out. Before anybody could ask him to repeat himself he was gone, leaving the photo to float to the ground. Robin reached down to pick up the photo.

"Guys I know where Wally went?", holding up the photo so they can see. Megan's hands shot to her mouth while the rest of the team shared a look of concern. "We need to get to Artemis's apartment". The team just nodded as they raced to the bioship.


	4. chapter4

_**Wally** _

` Dammit, I should have chased after her.` He kicked himself for allowing Chesher to stall him. He had only visited Artemis apartment once but he could still remember the street. He was outside in no time but for him, it still felt like it had taken to long too get there. Rushing up the stairs he came to an apartment door that had been smashed open, his breath caught in his throat as he slowly stepped into the hall. He heard a woman cry but didn't know who the voice belonged to. As he walked in he took in the site of the trashed room. His eyes fell to the sobbing woman on the floor "Mrs crock?", he questioned slowly approaching her, so not to cause any more stress.

Her head shot up, her eyes were now bloodshot. "He took her", her voice was shaken as Wally helped her back onto her chair "kid flash, Laurence has taken her, he has taken my daughter, he has taken Artemis", Wally was shocked that the woman was using his hero name rather than his own name, he then realised that Artemis must have never told her mother his secret identity. "If I was still the huntress I would have been able to save her. That bastard is going to kill her", her fist collided with the armrest, tears rolling down her cheeks. His eyes softened as he watched the distressed woman.

"I swear ", he waited until the ex-huntress looked at him "I will find her, I promise you that", his voice was full of determination. He wasn't going to lose her again, not if he could help it.

"KF, are you here?", Wally heard his young teammate shout from the doorway.

"Yeah, just come in", the team stepped inside, miss martian's eyes went wide.

"What happened here?", she then noticed Paula staring away from the team in shame. "Is Artemis okay?", The green skinned alien asked but she already knew the answer, she just wanted someone to tell her different. Wally looked at the woman in the wheelchair who didn't return his gaze.

"Sportmaster has got her", Wally clenched his fist trying to stop himself from vibrating with rage.

"You need to find my daughter, he's going to kill her this time." Paula hid her face behind her hands.

"I think that is unlikely, he's never done that before considering the opportunity he has had," Kaldur spoke up trying to reassure the team, but the older woman just shook her head.

"You don't understand, he's serious this time", she yelled at the leader. "He thinks his position in the light has been put at risk because of her. He would do anything to keep it, after all, he is the reason I'm in this chair." She couldn't keep the anger from her voice. The team gave the woman a sympathetic look.

"I promise you I will find her", Wally reached down grabbing her hand.

_**ARTEMIS** _

She was sat on a chair in the center of her prison room, her hands were tied behind her back. The room wasn't big and it definitely wasn't chosen for her comfort. There was very little light and the room was freezing, definitely not suitable for her costume. Her mind was racing, she was going to kill him when she had the chance. He had gone too far this time attacking her mother was off limits, he had never done this before. `Why didn't he just go after her and leave her mother out of this?.` She hung her head in shame cursing herself for being caught so easily.

Her head swung up when she heard the door open. "Hope you're comfortable", the familiar voice of her father greeted her.

"Yeah dad, I can really see you've made the effort this time." She said sarcastically, this was rewarded with a backhanded slap. She licked her lips tasting the metallic taste of her own blood. "Don't you think you're overreacting", she glared up at him.

"You have no idea", he got into the girl's face grabbing her cheeks roughly, with one hand. "You have gone too far this time, baby girl." She pulled her head back trying to shake his hand from her cheek, but he wasn't letting go. He threw another punch at her face knocking her onto the floor. "You have no idea what I had to do to get into the light, I sacrificed everything including your mother," Artemis growled at the mention of her mother.

"Don't give me that crap, you never cared about mom. You left her to get caught like a coward you always were. " This was rewarded with a strong kick, she bit down on her tongue keeping any noise from escaping her lips. "They must think you're useless because you can't control your own kids", she let out a small cry as his foot stamped on her leg.

"You know, I'm not in the mood for cheek from you." He grabbed her hair pulling her back up into a sitting position. His hand reached into his pocket reaching for something, her eyes widened when he pulled out his knife. "What is wrong no more smart ass comments?." He grabbed her hair pulling her head back so she was staring at the ceiling, placing the knife to her throat. "It would be so easy if I finished you off right now", his knife sank into her skin drawing blood, she held her breath waiting for him to make the final move, her heart was beating as fast as it could. But it never came instead she felt the cold metal leave her skin.

"So you're not going to kill me ?". She tried to make her voice sound normal but it didn't go to plan, it came out shaky and unconfident. But her question was answered by her father pulling out a lighter. Heating up the blade waiting for the steal to warm up before place it on the young girl's neck. She screamed as her skin singed, he didn't move the blade until he knew it had cooled and repeated the action again.

"I'm not going to kill you just yet", he continues to burn the girl placing the blade to another part of her skin.

_**1 hour later  
**_  
Artemis was breathing heavily, Sportmaster had moved on to other ways to torture his daughter after a while. Like using her as a punching bag. then going back to knife slicing small cuts into her skin. "Bast..ard", she breathed out. As his fist clashed with her now swollen jaw. She was knocked to the floor the 10th time in that hour. Her face pressed into the cold floor having no energy to raise her head. She eyed his black boots as he stood over her.

His attention was drawn to the door as it swung open. "You owe me, i want the rest of the money", Chesher said as she eyed her father's work "don't you think you've gone too far?", she spoke with caution in her voices.

"I don't think I've gone far enough." He reached down pulling his daughter by the hair once again. "Let this be a warning to you, little girl if you ever get in my way", he forced Artemis to look at her sister, Artemis eyes were still full of defiance.

"Whatever, I want my money", she folded her arms, sportmaster laughed.

"You're a lot like me, Jade", he said proudly "I will be back soon with your money", he looked at the blonde on the chair who was breathing heavily. Going back into his pocket grabbing the knife before slamming it into the girl's leg, she let out a scream. "Just in case you decide to have a change of heart", he spoke to Jade who only rolled her eyes as he walked out.

The girl ran towards her sister. "Artemis?." The younger sister struggled to keep her eyes open, "just hold on", the brunette gave her a sympathetic look. "I needed to know that he was really keeping you here", the blonde finally lifted her head.

"Wh...why did y...you help him? You kne..w wha… he was going to do to me." The brunette gave her a guilty look, while the blonde returned it with a hateful one of her own.

"I know, I know sis." She put her hand on the blond's bloody shoulder which led to a wince of pain. Her voice was soft "I'm sorry Artemis, but if it wasn't me it would have been somebody else. At least now I can get a plan to get you out", she tried to defend her actions. She stiffened up as soon as she heard footsteps at the door. She straightened up given one last look of concern to her sister. "This is your own fault you were warned", she shouted, waited until the door swung open before mouthing an apology.

"Go to hell", the blonde spat breathing heavily. Her sister gave an apologetic look as soon as she slapped her already swollen cheek. The blonde let her head drop not given them another reason to hurt her anymore.

"She's right baby girl, you should have listened", he handed his eldest daughter a suitcase of money. Stepping closer to the blonde who flinched, when he put his hand on the side of her face. "So what's your plan, now that you've got your money?", he asked her curiously.

"Got a few extra jobs, before my next job with the shadows." She walked to the door with him following her outside. "So when are you going to finish her off?", she went straight to the point trying to gather enough information from him.

"No, not just yet, I'm going to drag it out for a few days. Let her suffer until she is begging for me to end it", his voice full of glee. The woman just stared at him before turning away.

"Have fun, but if you want to drag this out for a few more days, I would at least give her a few hours of rest." The man let out a laugh.

"You're right,", he opened the door revealing the blonde girl, who was glaring at the door. Her breath ragged and her head felt so heavy she struggled to keep it up. "Got a bit carried away, didn't I?", he closed the door as his other daughter left him in the hall.

_**The team** _

Batman had ordered the team to stay with Artemis's mother, while they searched the area for any clues of the archer. When Green arrow stopped by to talk to Paula, he stormed out in a rage declaring he was going to `kill that man` when Paula told him Laurance was going to kill Artemis. No one had heard from him since. Black Canary wasn't much better, the only reason Dinah hadn't followed was that she had to take care of the rest of the team, who all were having different reactions.

Superboy sat sulking doing the only thing he knew how to do when he was forced, to stay put. Kaldur and Robin were staying in contact with any of the justice leaguers who were looking for their teammate. Paula and Dinah sat together talking away and finally miss martian and wally was sitting in Artemis room, the green alien trying to calm down the redhead.

"Paula, I need to know has Artemis had any other interaction with her father? other than when they had met on a mission", she placed her hand over the older woman's, who wasn't responding to many conversations.

"No ", shaking her head but a thought crossed her mind. "Last month when Artemis was attacked, she knew something but she wouldn't tell me." She slammed her fist on the arm of the chair. "I should have forced her to tell me".

"Paula, don't beat yourself up. Artemis wouldn't tell you even if you did force her. When I asked she avoided the question for reasons I don't know why. But now I think I can understand". Her voice was soft.

"Dinah, I'm her mother she should be able to tell me anything. But since I've come home and she saw me on this chair she acts like anything would break me. Like I'm some fragile child, she forgets that I was once the Huntress", she said angrily.

"I'm sorry, I know this must be hard for you", she looked away watching the teenagers in the room.

"Do you remember when we used to fight each other." The blonde woman just nodded. "Who would ever guess we would be in the same room talking to each other like this", she forced a small smile.

"Yeah strange, how time changes." She agreed, staring at the once proud huntress. If Dinah was being honest it scared her, how this former villain could be so easily broken. But she could understand Artemis had been like a daughter to her.

_**Wally and miss martian** _

He was sat on Jade's old bed, his foot tapping on the floor 100 miles a minute staring at the feet. His hands on his head. Miss Martian gave a concerned look from the doorway. "Wally please settle down we will find her", her voice was soft but uncertain. " we just need to be patient." his foot stopped tapping the floor.

"I know, I know but all I can think of is what he is doing to her, for what we know she is dead already." His voice broke as he spoke the final words.

"Don't think like that Wally", she raised her voice in a screech uncharacteristic of her. "I know we'll get her back", tears welled in her eyes.

"Sorry Megan, I know everyone is doing their best to find her." He stared at her. "I'm just tired of worrying about people I care about. I know it comes with the territory but I don't want to lose anyone especially not her", his voice was now shaking. "I should have told her, instead of playing these stupid games we play. I just thought I would have more time." He felt a sting on his left cheek as he stared up at the girl who was now in front of him. Her hand still raised in the air tears streaming down her face.

"Will you stop talking like that, you are not the only one who is worried about her. We all are and when we get her back we'll all help her through this", she spoke with determination in her voice. The boy only gave her a small smile. Before he could reply to her their heads shot to the door as they heard a commotion in the next room.

"What are you doing here?", it was Black Canary's voice they heard from the hallway and she sounded pissed. They both shot out of the room to see black canary holding Cheshire by the throat up against the wall.

"I can't come and see my own mother? check up on her? considering I'll soon be her only daughter." She mocked the older woman while she tightened her grip on her throat.

"You better…" Dinah was cut off by the speedster.

"Where is she?", his voice came out dark and threatening. "you know where she is, I swear to god if you don't tell me I'll.."

"KF, calm down", his best friend placed his hand on his shoulder. "She came here for a reason, let her talk", Robin gave a stern look one he must have learned from Batman.

"Are you missing her lover boy", jade teases "you should know that Artemis doesn't like clingy guys", she gave him a smirk as he growled.

"Jade, if you know anything about your sister you better tell them now", her mother moved towards her as black canary loosened her grip cautiously. Jade rubbed her neck glaring at the blonde.

"I came here to help your little mickey mouse team", she folded her arms as the team gave her a suspicious look.

"Help!, you are the one who got her into this mess and you want us to believe you?." Wally got in her face. "You think we are going to trust you."

"I don't understand Jade, why did you help your father." Her mother looked at her in disgust. "You would rather gain some extra points with the shadows than keeping that monster away from your sister", Jade clenched her fist at her mother's words.

"Oh don't give me that crap mom, you would have done the same if you were still in the game." Her mother looked down in shame. "Plus if I didn't do it, somebody else would have. At least I know where she is, you know better than anyone this was the best option". Glaring at the old woman, her lower lip was shaking.

"You seriously think this was the better option?" kid flash again spoke up, raising his hands in the air in disbelief.

"So you're going to help us get her back ?", canary ignored the younger flash.

"That's why I'm here, but we'll need to hurry." She stopped, trying to consider if she should continue her sentence since she was in a room of people who would send her to prison at any point. "She's in a bad way, the only thing working in our favor is dad wants to keep her alive for a few more days. He wants to draw it out as long as he can, but we need to act now, I don't think she'll last a few days." Paula burst out in tears while canary slammed her against the wall again.

"You better hope we get her in time, if we don't I swear you'll be going to prison in a body cast." The younger woman smacked black canary's hands away from her throat. "Everybody gets ready to leave, Robin contacts Batman and I'll contact green arrow give them the coordinates. Aqualad you are in charge of keeping an eye on Chesher." The team nodded before heading out, Wally was stopped by the old woman they were forced to leave behind as she grabbed his wrist.

"Bring her back, kid flash", the woman looked up at him "please", she pleaded with him, a nod was his only response.


	5. chapter 5

_**ARTEMIS** _

She had blacked out after her father had closed the door on her, to talk to her sister. She didn't know how long she had been out for. But that changed when someone suddenly splashed ice cold water on her, the water was surprisingly painful as it came in contact with her wounds. She gasped for breath hearing a mumbled laugh as her body fully awoke to pain. "Time to get up," she glared at him "ready for round two?", Laurance looked down on the breathless girl.

"When... did one st..art", she said in between trying to take breaths. She knew she shouldn't have said anything, but if she was going to die she refuses to let him break her. She gritted her teeth as he kicks her in the chest forcing her to the floor, her body wanted to curl up but the binds would not allow her to move any further.

"Look at that." He leaned down placing his hand on the knife, that was still in her thigh. "I forgot you were holding that for me." He started to twist the knife, she bit back a cry pushing her head into the concrete, trying to focus on the cold surface rather than the blade tearing at her skin. Her eyes stung as he finally pulled the knife out, she let out a whimper when it was completely removed.

She cursed at herself when the man began to mock her moment of weakness. "Aww, is Arty going to cry", she clenched her teeth remembering the many times he would taunt her with those words when she was a child. She just wanted this to be over but if she wanted to survive, she would have to keep this up.

"You..better hope..someone comes before..,", she was caught off by his laugh.

"You'll what?, you are barely able to hold your head up", She hated to admit it but he was right. "But, since I'm a good guy", he walked behind her pulling the chair up to a sitting position. Using the knife he cut away the bounds. her arms fell limp at her side. "I'll give you a chance to live up to your threat."

She held back a groan regretting saying anything to this man. She wasn't in any state to fight. "What?, I thought you were going to kill me, well why don't you show me." He kicked the chair away from underneath her, causing her to fall hard onto the ground. She tried to push herself up but her body was shaking in protest, spitting blood out to the side. "Come on arty', he pulled her up by the hair, taking a step back so she was standing on her shaky legs by herself.

The wound in her thigh burned as she avoided putting any weight on her leg. taking a sloppy fighting stance. "Doesn't this bring back fun memories", he gave her a dark smile as she ready herself for his attack. Before she could reply he attacked her with a knee to the stomach, she tried to recover by throwing a punch but he grabbed her wrist twisting her arm behind her back. He continued his counter with a kick to the back of her legs, causing her to fall to her knees. she grabbed her shoulder having no other energy to fight anymore.

"Well, that showed me", he smirked as his daughter let out a cry when he continued to pull her arm back until he knew it had popped out of her socket. He let her go allowing her to fall on her bad arm. He stood on her wounded leg causing her to shoot forward trying desperately to remove his foot but only found he was putting more pressure on her leg. "You know this would be all over if you just ask for me to end it." She couldn't hold back the cry after he placed his weight on her leg.

_**THE TEAM** _

The team including black canary, Chesher, and Green Arrow were in the bioship stationed at a safe distance away from the warehouse, in camouflage mode. "Batman will meet us back at the mountain. He is preparing the med bay, just in case of the worst scenario", Robin informed the team.

"That settled," Aqualad spoke up. "We all know the plan. We will distract the henchmen while Robin, Chesher, and Black Canary will go look for Artemis", he reminded the team.

"I don't agree with this", green arrow interrupted.

"Ollie!," Dinah gave him a warning.

"No Dinah, she is my protege", he stared her down. "Plus, what happens if this ends up being a trap and that one there decides to change sides." Pointing an accusing finger at the villain, Chesher just rolled her eyes as she folded her arms.

"Ollie I know how you're feeling but we don't have time to argue about this", Dianna put her hand into the older archer's hand.

"I agree with Green Arrow", Robin spoke, surprising the team. "I also think me and Wally should switch places." Kaldur waited for an explanation from the younger member. "I mean GA's got a point if it is a trap, who's going to look after Artemis. So at least KF would be able to get her out of any danger", Kaldur considered this.

"You make a good argument." The older boy agreed. "Us four will go in first while the rest will go in the back way to find Artemis." They all agreed and began exiting the bioship. Wally grabbed his best friend by his upper arm forcing him to stop.

"Are you sure swapping with me is a good idea?", The older boy questioned. The boy gave the speedster a confused smile. "I'm scared rob, I don't know what to expect."

"Wally, I know you're scared about what you might find. But if you don't go you'll just be too distracted to focus on anything. Plus, I think she might prefer you there at her side than me." he gave him a reassuring smile, before exiting the bioship

The team watched outside the warehouse. "Mind link up", everybody nodded acknowledging Miss Martian.

"Everybody ready?, Superboy and miss martian are going to take the lead". they both nodded "I wish you luck," he nodded to the rest before ordering his team to run in.

"Now show us the way ", Green Arrow turns towards Chesher.

"It's only polite to say please", Chesher mocked the older man, who tightened his fist ready to attack. "Relax, Artemis won't give up that easy." They headed around to the back door of the warehouse.

Green Arrow notched his bow when he saw two guards guarding the back door. Before he could do anything Chesher jumped forward taking the two men out. "What the hell, we don't kill people", green arrow lowered his bow marching up to the assassin.

"No, you don't kill people. Keep in mind I'm not part of your Mickey mouse club", she growled at him. " I'm only here to get my sister back I don't care about your moral code", she got in his face.

"That is enough", Black Canary separated the two. "This isn't the time to be fighting amongst ourselves, Chesher show us the way." Black Canary pointed at the door, watching the two entering the building. She turned to the young speedster who was in a world of his own, stopping him "Wally, are you sure you can do this because it's okay if you can't. You can just join the rest of the team."

"No, I need to do this, she wouldn't hesitate to do the same for me". The older woman just smiled patting his shoulder before walking into the building.

They cautiously walked through the long corridor of the warehouse. The suspense was killing Wally, he just wanted to get the young archer out of here. They stopped as they were about to turn the corner to another hallway when they heard two guards up ahead talking. "So that's really sportsmaster's daughter in there?", he questioned the other henchmen.

"Yeah, he's really ripping right into her. I'm surprised she is not begging for him to end it already. I don't think I could last as long, with that kind of torture", the three heroes face's drained completely of color when they heard him speak his last sentence, Chesher didn't seem fazed at all.

"Shame Sportmaster is going to kill her", he was given a questioned look by the other henchmen. "Think about it, if she can put up with something like torture makes you wonder what else she can put up with. Considering she's not a bad looking girl. I'm sure she would be up for a lot of things in the bedroom.", The men both laughed, not knowing that Kid Flash and Green Arrow were both being held back by Black Canary. The men stopped laughing when they heard an explosion coming from the main hall, both looking at each other they decided to go investigate. Chesher started following them.

"Where are you going?", Wally finally settled down asking the older sister.

"I'm going to teach some people some manners, Artemis should be in the next hallway to the right." She ran after the men. The Three heroes looked at each other before running up ahead. Wally couldn't take it anymore and decided to run ahead. He rounded the corner going down the hall before he heard her scream. He paused at the door peeking through checking if his suspicions were right.

His eyes widened as he saw the young archer on the floor with the man who was meant to be her father, his foot on her leg. "Come on Artemis, just ask me to end it. I will make it quick but if you continue being stubborn this will just last longer", he leaned down towards her.

"I'm... not goin..g to beg, I'd...rather die being st...urborn, than..give you..that satisf..action", Wally watched as the blonde raise his foot off the girl's leg and brought it back down on her shoulder. She let out a painful cry that tore right through wally. His heart dropped at the idea of her being in pain. He backed up ready to smash through the door but he froze when someone grabbed his biceps. He turned readying himself for a fight, no one was going to stop him from saving Artemis.

When he realized it was Canary he relaxed a little, she put a finger to her mouth signaling to the teenager not to make a sound. Green Arrow and Black Canary moved to the door frame, their anger was obvious when they saw what was happening inside the room. Ollie was about to let an arrow lose but Dinah stepped in front, using the Canary cry she caught sportmaster of guard forcing him away from the young girl.

Wally didn't waste any time, he was at Artemis side in seconds. His face paled as he looked down at the blonde, her hair which was no longer in her ponytail was matted, she had burns all over her body, along with deep cuts, her costume was covered in blood and rips. While her face was swollen, one eye was so bad that she was unable to open it. He then noticed the stab wound on her leg, which was bleeding badly. "Artemis?", his voice was low, unsure of what to do.

"You...'re late... Baywatch", the blonde struggled to get out as she winced. He supported her into a sitting position. his heart skipped a beat when he heard her use the nickname she had given him. He didn't know why but hearing her broken up words filled him with relief.

"Yeah well, you know me, I lost track of time beautiful", his eyes filled water. "but I'll make it up to you, I'll take you out for dinner when you get better.", he forced himself to laugh.

"Artemis?", Before Wally noticed Black Canary was by his side examining the girl. "Look, I'm going to try and stop the bleeding on your thigh", the archer slowly nodded, avoiding as much movement as possible. Wally looked up to see if he could see Green Arrow, when he finally spotted the older man he was shocked to see that the older archer was going all out on the villain.

He was snapped back to reality when he heard a sharp intake of breath coming from the girl in his arms. He shot her a worried look, slipping his hand into her's. Allowing her to squeeze as black canary used her leather jacket to put pressure on the girl's thigh. "Artemis?", The older woman spoke in a motherly tone, "I know this is a stupid question, but is there any other injuries we need to watch before moving you?.", The blonde nodded to her combat teacher.

"Every...thing hurt's...but my arm...r..ibs...my back", Dinah gave her sympathetic look.

"Okay, we'll try to make this as comfortable as possible. But I am going to warn you this is going to hurt when we move you", the archer rested her head on the speedster. It was obvious she was tired of the pain, exhausted from the beating `Miss Martian when you are able we need the Bioship at the back door ASAP`, Canary used the mind link.

`That's received, I'll bring it around straight away`, Megan voice full of concerned but didn't waste time in asking questions.

"Hey, how you doing kiddo?", green arrow finally came over after making sure sportsmaster was tied up, but even if he didn't, the villain was knocked out cold.

"Thin..k...I won't be patrolling...for ...a while..e", she forced a smile as the older man put his hand gently on her cheek.

"I guess I can let you away with it this time", his voice was soft.

`Bioship is waiting out back`, Kaldur voice ran through their minds.

`Miss Martian, we need your assistance in taking Artemis out", their combat teacher announced.

It didn't take long for the alien to get to their location, tears started falling from her eyes when she saw the mess her earth sister was in. It wasn't until black canary demanded to the girl to pull herself together.

Black Canary made a makeshift sling to support the archer's arm. "Okay Wally lie her down", he hesitated before complying. "Artemis, we're going to move you now", the younger girl just nodded. "Right on the count of three," she motioned to miss martian before beginning the countdown. Artemis let out a whimper as she was lifted off the ground and gently moved to the Bioship, a few of the justice league members showed up to take care of sportsmaster.

They watch as they placed the young girl inside the ships makeshift med bay, as soon as Artemis was on the table she passed out. "I guess she must have been trying to hold on, until she was sure she was safe." The older woman stroked her the girl's hair.

"I should have just killed him", green arrow clenched his fist. "I don't care about the consequences, I can't allow this to happen again, Dinah", the blonde let out a sigh,

"Ollie, you can't talk like that. She wouldn't want you to say anything like that, after all that why she looks up to you", Ollie looked down at the girl keeping gaze on her.

The trip back to the mountain was uneventful, everybody kept quiet. Wally stared at the door of the makeshift med bay expecting some miracle of the young archer to come out.


	6. chapter 6

t didn't take long for the team to get back to the mountain where a medical team was waiting for the injured archer, who immediately rushed her off to surgery. Kaldur, Black Canary, and a reluctant Green Arrow left the team in the waiting area while they went off to debrief Batman on the situation.

The team waited outside the med bay occasionally staring at the door in hopes that someone would come out and give them news on their teammate. it had been three hours since Artemis had been taken, Megan and Conner were sitting together holding each other's hands, Dick tried to distract himself by playing around with his wristwatch. While Wally sat a bit further away from the team on the ground with his elbows resting on his knees, his hand clutching his red hair as the image of Artemis beaten and broken body flashed before his eyes.

He couldn't stand that image of her, it wasn't the Artemis he fell for, it wasn't his Artemis. He felt a lump form in the bad of his throat. "Hey kid," Speedster's head shot up locking eyes on the older archer, who slid down the wall to sit next to him. "How are you holding up?", he gave the red-head a soft look when he didn't reply. "It scared you didn't it? seeing her like that."

"Yeah, I never thought I would see her in that kind of state", he bit his lip, Ollie just forced a laugh. "I Should have gotten to her faster", Kid Flash looked straight ahead avoiding the older man's eye contact.

"I know what you mean, despite her only being flesh and blood, you sometimes forget that she is not invincible.", he stared at Dinah as he spoke, Wally just nodded his head in understanding. "And when something like this does happen, you feel completely helpless. I feel the same way when it comes to Dinah and since Artemis has become like a daughter to me it doesn't feel any better." The older man clenched his fist at the thought of the two people he cares about getting hurt.

"So how do you deal with it?", the speedster questioned, Green arrow let out a sigh.

"I guess...I don't really", the speedster gave him a disappointed look. "But like Dinah, Artemis is strong and stubborn and won't go down that easily. Knowing this makes it a bit easier", He placed his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Plus what would Artemis say if she saw you blaming yourself?." before Wally could respond they heard the door to the med bay open.

Oliver stood up with Dinah taking his hand in her's, given him a quick squeeze as the doctor approached him. The team held their breath waiting for the man to speak. "So what's the damage?". Green Arrow when straight to the point.

"I can only say what this girl went through must have been unbearable, I am surprised she was able to stay awake until you got her out of there.", Wally bit his lip as he waited for him to continue. "Her body is covered in burns and deep cuts, some of which look like they have been made by a heated blade. As there are blisters on the skin, she has a mild concussion", Megan couldn't help but a whimper.

"That bastard", Ollie spat out "I should have killed him.", Black Canary motioned to the doctor to continue, her expression full of worry.

"That was the least of our problems, when we got her in there", Wally's blood froze as he forced himself to stay still and listen to the doctor. "The wound on her leg has ripped through a lot of her muscle tissue, cracking the bone. she has Internal bleeding, we have managed to close but we were forced to give her a blood transfusion. Her rib cage doesn't have a rib that hasn't at least got one crack in it, her right cheekbone has been fractured and finally she a dislocated shoulder.", He sighed rubbing his head with the back of his hand. "it's going to be a long and painful recovery, she will need a lot of support". The older heroes nodded in understanding.

"Can we go in and see her?", Dinah asked cautiously.

"Of course, but I would like you to keep it to a minimum of 3 people as I don't want her overwhelmed when she wakes up", he turned and walked away. The team all looked at each other, before their combat teacher began talking.

"You decide between yourselves which one of you will go in", they all gave her confused look.

"But he said 3 of us can go", Conner stated.

"I know Conner, but I only want one of you in there while I and Green Arrow will supervise Artemis until she wakes up. And of course, her mother will also want to visit with her", she told him in a matter of fact. "If you give me a moment I need to contact Artemis's mother", she walked away from the team leaving green arrow with them.

"Fine, I nominate Wally," the speedsters headshot up when he heard the green alien speak his name.

"I don't think that is a good idea", he spoke quietly. "She would probably rather sees one of you guys", he felt awkward as the team stared at him.

"Lets put it to a vote, everybody who agrees that KF should go raise your hand", they waited for the younger member to finish before their hands shot up including Green Arrow's.

"That has been decided, Wally you will go in," Kaldur spoke up. As the older archer hooked his arm over the speedster forcing him to walk forward into the room.

As they entered the room Wally's eyes immediately fell on the archer who was laying on the bed hooked up to a heart monitor and an IV. Her mentor took a seat beside her before Wally decided to do the same. She looked so helpless lying in the bed her body was wrapped in bandages, her face was swollen and bruised.

Green Arrow started to stroke the top of her head. "You really are something else", he spoke quietly to her. Wally just stared at her putting his hand on top of hers.

"Yeah, she really is." the two sat there for hours not speaking to each other just waiting for the young girl to wake up. Finally black Canary came back wheeling in Paula Crock, Oliver moved out the way so Paula could be next to her daughter. Green Arrow left the room to stretch his legs.

"Artemis, what has he done to you?", she spoke with a shaken voice as tears ran down her face. "I never wanted this to happen to you again but I can't seem to get you away from him", she then looked at the redhead who avoided her eye contact.

"I'm sorry, I never got to her fast enough", he looked ashamed of himself.

"No kid flash because of you, my daughter is alive. I couldn't ask for anything more", She looked over to the Speedster, then to the older blonde and to her daughter. "I couldn't be any more grateful. What happened to Jade?", she turned to face Black Canary.

"I'm not sure after she helped us find Artemis she left," Dinah answered, Paula, rolled her eyes.

"Just like her parents, runs when she knows the job is done", the older woman shook her head. "At least I can be grateful that she helped rescue Artemis". They sat there for a few hours before Paula decided she could leave as her daughter is in safe hands.

_**A week later.  
**_  
Artemis had still not woken up, Oliver and Wally hadn't left her side since she was brought back to the mountain. The team had brought in food so the heroes wouldn't starve.

The first thing Artemis noticed when she began to wake up was the sound of a beeping, that added to her already aching head. The second was the smell of disinfectant that would normally associate with a hospital room. Finally, she felt the pain all over her body she couldn't contain the tears that were spilling from her closed eyelids.

Wally was the first to notice the liquid spilling from the archer's eyes "Artemis", his voice was slurred as he spoke catching the older man's attention. "Artemis, if you can wake up", his voice was full of excitement when he saw her eyelids slowly open, darting around the room as they adjusted to the light.

"Wally?" her voice was a whimpered as she spoke his name, his heart sank, at how frail she sounded.

"Artemis, you're awake", her mentor shouted in excitement, he soon noticed that her face scrunched up in pain. "How you feeling?", he questioned her with concern in his voices.

"I don't think I have the energy...to give you...a response to a stupid question", she clenched her eyes shut as the extent of her injuries started to become known.

"You right kiddo, a Stupid question", he got up from his seat "look I'm going to get the doctor see if he can give you anything.", she attempted to nod her head but found it very difficult to do so. Green Arrow reached down kissing her on the forehead. Wally waited until he knew he was alone in the room.

"I'm sorry". he said the words quickly that Artemis wasn't sure she heard him right.

"What are you talking...about Baywatch", she forced her eyes open to stare at the boy sitting beside her.

"I should have chased after you, I should have been faster", his voice broke as he kept his eyes on the girl afraid if he blinks for a moment she would disappear, she rolled her eyes but even doing that hurt.

"Wally, please don't think like that...what happened has happened. it was bound to eventually. He may be my father but he is still Sportsmaster. ", Wally clenches his jaw that wasn't what he was expecting her to say. she forced out a laugh causing her to start coughing violently, she arched her back in pain as she grabbed onto her sheets wishing green arrow would hurry with those painkillers.

Wally jumped off his seat in a panic, he hesitantly placed his hands on her shoulders being careful not to put so much pressure on her dislocated shoulder. "Artemis, try to calm yourself you're in a bad state, try not to move as much."

"Duh Kid idiot", she spat out. Instead of getting some kind of insult off him, she felt his hand gently placed on her cheek. She focused on his touch as his thumb wiped away fallen tears. "Sorry", she let out a whimper. "Bet you're never going to let me live this one down, crying in front of you." Wally gave her a goofy smile.

"No, not this time. I'll let you away with this one, because of special circumstances", she gave him a tired smile.

"You know what kept me going?", he waited for her response, his hand now moved to the top of her head. "I knew you would come for me", she looked up at him, her normal steal gray eyes now unrecognizable.

"I will always come for you", his voice was a whisper he paused for second liking his lips before he continued. "Arty, I want to be with you."

"Why?", he looked down at her speechless. "I'm broken, Wally, we all know that. You deserve someone who sees the world like you. I mean we are so different, your family is full of heroes while mine. well, you see first hand what my family are like", tears streaming down her face. "I don't deserve someone like you, and you deserve someone better". He looked shocked but did the only thing he could think of by gently putting his lips to her's. He pulled away a second later.

"I don't want anyone else. Artemis I don't care about your family that's not why I like you. I love the fact that you don't let me away with anything, even if it's something so stupid. I love the fact that you try and act like a total badass but when you need to your the most compassionate person I know. All this and more are the reason I want to be with you", she stared up at him as he talks. Before she could respond his lips were on her's again. "It's going to be a long road to recovery, and I will be right there with you, beautiful", his head rested on hers.

"You are such an idiot." She slowly brought her hand to rest on his check before connecting their lips.


End file.
